Dropped-square shoulders defined the esthetic. They mirrored the style popular in the salons under Emperor Napoleon III — and sleeves were separated at the top to evoke an aristocratic glove.

But 1870s France was only a pit-stop in a show that featured glistening Asiatic-style silks with floral embroideries and contemporary voluminous shoulders — twinned with thigh-high boots that ranged from 1960's lace to futurist silver.

And with Chanel, there is always more than meets the eye. Here, that was found in the tweed — or the lack of it. All the skirt suits that resembled tweed were, in fact, fastidiously woven silk ribbons and lashings of braided tulle.

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